Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, laughs with Marketo CEO Phil Fernandez as he makes reference to her rumored possible campaign for President during a Q&A following her keynote speech for Marketo at the Marketing Nation Summit April 8, 2014 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif. The speech was one of a few speaking appearances Clinton will be making on the West Coast in the next few days.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses a large audience during her keynote speech for Marketo at the Marketing Nation Summit April 8, 2014 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif. The speech was one of a few speaking appearances Clinton will be making on the West Coast in the next few days.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answers a question from Marketo CEO Phil Fernandez during a Q&A following her keynote speech for Marketo at the Marketing Nation Summit April 8, 2014 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif. The speech was one of a few speaking appearances Clinton will be making on the West Coast in the next few days.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses a large audience during her keynote speech for Marketo at the Marketing Nation Summit April 8, 2014 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif. The speech was one of a few speaking appearances Clinton will be making on the West Coast in the next few days.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laughs with Marketo CEO Phil Fernandez as he makes reference to her rumored possible campaign for President during a Q&A following her keynote speech for Marketo at the Marketing Nation Summit April 8, 2014 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif. The speech was one of a few speaking appearances Clinton will be making on the West Coast in the next few days.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, even while joking that she was doing her best to "dance around" the question of a presidential bid, delivered unusually expansive comments Tuesday about the doubts that come into play as she decides whether to run in 2016.

"The hard questions are not, 'Do you want to be president? Can you win?' Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd of about 2,000 at the Marketo Marketing Nation Summit at the Moscone Center, where she delivered a keynote address. "The hard questions are, 'Why? Why would you want to do this? And what could you offer that could make a difference?' "

When the former first lady sat for questions with Marketo CEO Phil Fernandez, however, the audience erupted in cheers at the mere mention of her being on a "campaign swing" in San Francisco.

"I'm actually here hoping to get some marketing advice," she joked to Fernandez, whose San Mateo company makes marketing software.

But then she added, "I am obviously ... deeply honored to have some people ask me and people encourage me ... and I am obviously thinking about it."

Clinton also delivered some tough remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him "a very hard guy, a tough guy with thin skin who believes that the best way of moving forward is moving backward."

Personal dealings with Putin were challenging, she said. He "will throw an insult your way," Clinton said. "He will look bored, even dismissive."

But, she added to laughs, that he didn't faze her because "I have a lot of experience with people like that."

Bolstering her standing

Clinton's San Francisco appearance was her first on a western tour that will take her to San Jose State University on Thursday as well as to Las Vegas, San Diego and Portland, Ore.

With more than two years to go before the 2016 election, Clinton's travels serve not only to put her before voters in key media markets, but help bolster her spot - confirmed by most major polls - as the leading contender for the White House.

Clinton said Tuesday that in trying to decide whether to run, she wonders about plunging into "disheartening and even embarrassing" fights such as whether to let the government go into default to make a point over balancing budgets.

Treated like a candidate

The former senator representing New York said she wonders of Republican congressional leaders, "What is their plan, what is their vision? If you're going to compete in this arena, you're going to have to put forth your competing purpose and vision."

Clinton said she won't decide whether to run "for a while," adding that the United States would be better served if it "had the limited campaign period that other countries have ... 30 to 60 or 90 days ... because then we could pay attention to these upcoming elections" like the 2014 midterms.

Clinton may not have be officially running, but Republicans are already treating her like a candidate.

"It's only fitting that Hillary Clinton would kick off her West Coast tour in the liberal bastion of San Francisco," Jahan Wilcox, a Republican National Committee spokesman, said Tuesday in a statement. "Instead of answering questions about her troubled record at the State Department - which includes Benghazi and the failed Obama-Clinton Russian reset - Clinton is opting to hang out at high-dollar speaking engagements."